THE NATION.

Study to focus on barriers to homeownership

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The city is getting some additional help in identifying barriers to home ownership and affordable housing.

The Virginia Tech Center for Housing Research has been tapped for a comprehensive study that will focus on the beach's housing supply and demand.

The study, which should begin next month, will use a combination of census data, city records and other data to develop a housing profile, said Andrew M. Friedman, the beach's housing director. Results should be available later this year.

Part of the study should identify housing affordability problems for the elderly and disabled and compare the amount of subsidized housing with the need.

The $19,500 study should also project homeowner and rental trends to the year 2020.

"This study will help us see what housing will be if we don't do anything," Friedman told members of a city advisory panel earlier this month.

Such a profile also should assist the panel, which city housing created earlier this year to examine community partnership opportunities that address the beach's housing and neighborhood needs. The panel, known as the Partner Group, is made up of bankers, real estate agents, civic leaders and others.

Increasing home ownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income residents and boosting the city's base of quality affordable rental housing are high on the panel's list of priorities.